Extrasolar Planets and Their Host Stars

In order to understand the exoplanet, you need to understand its parent star. Astrophysical parameters of extrasolar planets are directly and indirectly dependent on the properties of their respective host stars. These host stars are very frequently the only visible component in the systems. This book describes our work in the field of characterization of exoplanet host stars using interferometry to determine angular diameters, trigonometric parallax to determine physical radii, and SED fitting to determine effective temperatures and luminosities. The interferometry data are based on our decade-long survey using the CHARA Array. We describe our methods and give an update on the status of the field, including a table with the astrophysical properties of all stars with high-precision interferometric diameters out to 150 pc (status Nov 2016). In addition, we elaborate in more detail on a number of particularly significant or important exoplanet systems, particularly with respect to (1) insights gained from transiting exoplanets, (2) the determination of system habitable zones, and (3) the discrepancy between directly determined and model-based stellar radii. Finally, we discuss current and future work including the calibration of semi-empirical methods based on interferometric data.Comment: 80 pages in SpringerBrief format containing a few blank pages, 16 figures, 1 table of all stars with high-precision interferometric diameters, glossary of commonly encountered terms, SpringerBrief 2017, ISBN 978-3-319-61198-

Exoplanetary Transit Constraints Based Upon Secondary Eclipse Observations

Transiting extrasolar planets provide an opportunity to study the mass-radius relation of planets as well as their internal structure. The existence of a secondary eclipse enables further study of the thermal properties of the the planet by observing at infrared wavelengths. The probability of an observable secondary eclipse depends upon the orbital parameters of the planet, particularly eccentricity and argument of periastron. Here we provide analytical expressions for these probabilities, investigate their properties, and calculate their values for the known extrasolar planets. We furthermore quantitatively discuss constraints on existence and observability of primary transits if a secondary eclipse is observed. Finally, we calculate the a-posteriori transit probabilities of the known extrasolar planets, and we present several case studies in which orbital constraints resulting from the presence of a secondary eclipse may be applied in observing campaigns.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; accepted for publication in PAS

Constraints on Secondary Eclipse Probabilities of Long-Period Exoplanets from Orbital Elements

Long-period transiting exoplanets provide an opportunity to study the mass-radius relation and internal structure of extrasolar planets. Their studies grant insights into planetary evolution akin to the Solar System planets, which, in contrast to hot Jupiters, are not constantly exposed to the intense radiation of their parent stars. Observations of secondary eclipses allow investigations of exoplanet temperatures and large-scale exo-atmospheric properties. In this short paper, we elaborate on, and calculate, probabilities of secondary eclipses for given orbital parameters, both in the presence and absence of detected primary transits, and tabulate these values for the forty planets with the highest primary transit probabilities.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, 1 table; to appear in ASP Conf. Proceedings: "Pathways Towards Habitable Planets" 2009, Barcelona, Spain (eds.: D. Gelino, V. Coude du Foresto, I. Ribas

Directly Determined Linear Radii and Effective Temperatures of Exoplanet Host Stars

We present interferometric angular sizes for 12 stars with known planetary companions, for comparison with 28 additional main-sequence stars not known to host planets. For all objects we estimate bolometric fluxes and reddenings through spectral energy distribution fits, and in conjunction with the angular sizes, measurements of effective temperature. The angular sizes of these stars are sufficiently small that the fundamental resolution limits of our primary instrument, the Palomar Testbed Interferometer, are investigated at the sub-milliarcsecond level and empirically established based upon known performance limits. We demonstrate that the effective temperature scale as a function of dereddened $(V-K)_0$ color is statistically identical for stars with and without planets. A useful byproduct of this investigation is a direct calibration of the $T_{\rm EFF}$ scale for solar-like stars, as a function of both spectral type and $(V-K)_0$ color, with an precision of $\bar{\Delta T}_{\rm {(V-K)}_0} = 138$K over the range $(V-K)_0=0.0-4.0$ and $\bar{\Delta T}_{\rm {SpType}} = 105$K for the range F6V -- G5V. Additionally, we provide in an appendix spectral energy distribution fits for the 166 stars with known planets which have sufficient photometry available in the literature for such fits; this derived "{\tt XO-Rad}" database includes homogenous estimates of bolometric flux, reddening, and angular size.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Predicting Stellar Angular Diameters from VV, ICI_C, HH, KK Photometry

Determining the physical properties of microlensing events depends on having accurate angular sizes of the source star. Using long-baseline optical interferometry we are able to measure the angular sizes of nearby stars with uncertainties $\leq 2\%$. We present empirically derived relations of angular diameters that are calibrated using both a sample of dwarfs/subgiants and a sample of giant stars. These relations are functions of five color indices in the visible and near-infrared, and have uncertainties of 1.8-6.5% depending on the color used. We find that a combined sample of both main-sequence and evolved stars of A-K spectral types is well fit by a single relation for each color considered. We find that in the colors considered, metallicity does not play a statistically significant role in predicting stellar size, leading to a means of predicting observed sizes of stars from color alone.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in MNRA

Observational Window Functions in Planet Transit Surveys

The probability that an existing planetary transit is detectable in one's data is sensitively dependent upon the window function of the observations. We quantitatively characterize and provide visualizations of the dependence of this probability as a function of orbital period upon several observing strategy and astrophysical parameters, such as length of observing run, observing cadence, length of night, transit duration and depth, and the minimum number of sampled transits. The ability to detect a transit is directly related to the intrinsic noise of the observations. In our simulations of observational window functions, we explicitly address non-correlated (gaussian or white) noise and correlated (red) noise and discuss how these two noise components affect transit detectability in fundamentally different manners, especially for long periods and/or small transit depths. We furthermore discuss the consequence of competing effects on transit detectability, elaborate on measures of observing strategies, and examine the projected efficiency of different transit survey scenarios with respect to certain regions of parameter space.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 8 tables; accepted for publication in Ap

An Extinction Map and Color Magnitude Diagram for the Globular Cluster NGC 3201

Differential $E_{V-I}$ variations of up to $\sim 0.2$ mag on a scale of arcminutes across NGC 3201 are presented in the form of an extinction map. This map, created by calculating average $E_{V-I}$ values for stars in small subregions of the field with respect to a fiducial region, greatly improves the appearance of the CMD of the cluster. We describe how we implemented this technique in detail with our data for NGC 3201. A comparison between our map and that of the same region extracted from the COBE/DIRBE reddening maps published by Schlegel, Finkbeiner, & Davis (1998) (SFD) displays larger-scale similarities between the two maps as well as smaller-scale features which show up in our map but not in the SFD map. Several methods of determining an $E_{V-I}$ zeropoint to add to our differential extinction map are presented. Isochrone fitting proved to be the most successful one, but it produces an average $E_{V-I}$ for the cluster which is smaller than previously published values by $\sim 1.5\sigma$. Finally, our results seem to support the statement by Arce & Goodman (1999) that the SFD maps overestimate the reddening in regions of high extinction.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in AJ (March 2001). Full resolution version may be obtained at http://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu/users/kaspar/html/ngc3201.pdf (PDF) and at http://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu/users/kaspar/html/ngc3201.ps.gz (PS

Observational Window Functions in Planet Transit Searches

Window functions describe, as a function of orbital period, the probability that an existing planetary transit is detectable in one's data for a given observing strategy. We show the dependence of this probability upon several strategy and astrophysical parameters, such as length of observing run, observing cadence, length of night, and transit duration. The ability to detect a transit is directly related to the intrinsic noise of the observations. In our simulations of the window function, we explicitly address non-correlated (gaussian or white) noise and correlated (red) noise and discuss how these two different noise components affect window functions in different manners.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; to appear in the Proceedings of the 249th IAU Meeting: "Exoplanets: Detection, Formation and Dynamics" (Suzhou, China); added referee's comment